Beginning this month, we’re adding graphs to our statistics so you can quickly see the price trends for Ventura, Oxnard and Camarillo.

Check out the quarterly graphs for single family homes and condos forthe past 3 year history (longer term trends) plus the current 12 month time span (more volatile) charts. The graphs are in Adobe pdf format.

For the number crunchers out there, we still publish the hard statistic numbers like always (pendings, number of homes sold by size groupings, list prices, sold prices, days on the market, etc).

Who reads and tracks our blog? The Ventura County Star! The statistics and other info we publish is one source they use in tracking our local real estate market. Read the article in todays paper about “flippers” – investors who buy houses, fix them up and sell them for a profit. A reporter from the Ventura County Star, Stephanie Hoops, wanted to know what’s happening in our local market and interviewed Don Nelson.

The HAFA (Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives) program became official on April 5, 2010. The HAFA program stream lines the short sale process by preapproving the short sale prior to the homeowner putting their home on the market. There are other great benefits – see our short intro video on HAFA.

I finished reading a wildly popular book I bought at Costco called “The Big Short” which details the multi-billion dollar bets hedge funds made against the housing market. I also finished a University of Arizona professor’s study whether “underwater” homeowners should make a business decision to walk away from their homes (a “strategic default”). If Morgan Stanley can walk away from 5 office buildings it bought in San Francisco at the height of the market, why can’t Joe and Mary Homeowner do the same thing? Read more in my newsletter.